Welcome to IUS ROMANUM -

the Roman law website

of Law Faculty of the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski "

The Roman jurist Celsus defined law as „ the art of goodness and equity". The amazing desire of the Roman people to create and implement laws has crossed the barriers of time to reach the world of today. Roman law still remains that incredibly stable foundation on top of which modern legal culture has developed.

The term "Roman Law" refers to the legal system of ancient Rome which includes the development of objective law and jurisdiction, and also to the science of law as it has evolved for more than 14 centuries. Not only some of the solutions of legal problems proposed by the Roman jurists and emperors have survived over the centuries, but also the legal principles and the legal terminology, which have passed from Latin into the modern languages.

The term „Roman Law" is used also to denote the legal systems implemented in a significant part of Western Europe until as late as the eighteenth century. This is the law applied in the Holy Roman Empire. It is the basis of the bourgeous civil codifications and has had a significant influence on the formation of nations and of modern statehood. Roman law has influenced the national legal systems not only in Europe but also in America, Africa and Asia. It also enhances the desire to establish the modern supranational codifications. Roman law is a legal technique with its origins in the romanistic legal tradition.

Many authors perceive Roman law as the first legal system in history which is completely separated from customs and religion. However, it is in itself an aggregate of the legal consciousness not only of the Romans and of the other Italic nations. In the period of territorial expansion, flourishing of the Roman economy and establishment of the political supremacy of Rome in the Mediterranean area and in a substantial part of continental Europe, it was strongly influenced by the Oriental and Hellenistic legal cultures. It also adapted many institutes of foreign law and created the system of the law of nations (ius gentium) to be applied throughout the Roman Empire. Thanks to the compenetration of political power and religion, and to the adoption and protection of the Roman law by Christianity, Roman law was preserved by the clerical institutions during the stormy early Middle Ages to rise for a new life in the universities of the XI century onwards, in science and in legislation, and to finally reach the threshold of the twenty-first century.

Traditionally the modern universities include „Roman private law" in their curricula as a regular subject, emphasising on the continuity of the Roman legal tradition in the contemporary private law systems.

Since the last decades of the nineteenth century there has been a growing tendency to research and respectively teach Roman public law as a basis of modern statehood and democratic development. In 2014, by decision of its Faculty Council, the Faculty of Law at the University of Sofia „St. Kliment Ohridski" introduced „Roman public law" as an optional course in the curriculum. The Roman legal tradition is also a part of the courses in History of state and law, Modern legal and governmental systems, Philosophy of law, Philosophical anthropology, History of the political and legal doctrines, Comparative Private Law etc.

At the initiative of students from the Faculty of Law and after the tragic death of our colleague - the unforgettable Assistant Professor Theodor Piperkov, the circle of Roman law was restored in 2014. A „Club of the jurist" was also established, bearing his name. As a result of the activities of these two informal organizations, there appeared an idea to create a broader platform for expanding the knowledge of the Roman legal tradition and of the contribution of the Roman jurists to the modern legal culture.

There are not many romanistic websites in the world. There are some which are purely didactic and oriented to assisting the students in doing the course of "Roman Private Law" and some other optional subjects. Others offer an extremely large selection of literary sources, books and articles on Roman law. Bulgaria, however, has never had a tradition of publishing literature specialized in Roman law, which is accessible to a wider audience. Perhaps the limited number of scholars and lecturers working in this field is one of the reasons. The recent publication of some books, however, as well as the celebrations of events related to Roman law, revealed an undoubtedly growing interest in the area of searching for the roots of the contemporary legal development in Antiquity. This specific Renaissance and the enthusiasm of many young colleagues - students and Assistant Professors, as well as colleagues who practice law, set before us the important task to create this website. And, even though tradition says that research results should be presented in a printed form, especially when the Ancient World and its law is concerned, we feel that the electronic technologies offer a better opportunity to bring these studies to the general public interested in Roman law.

The most important target group, however, are those who are tempted by law, who are in the beginning of their studies and are seeking to transform their knowledge into "the art of goodness and equity".

We dedicate this website to them, with all our love and desire to be helpful, and we strongly rely on them for its enrichment.